Valerie Gray: Tell Me Lies
by Futuramakid
Summary: Only a few short weeks after Phantom Planet, Valerie is full of conflicting emotions, about Danny. However, everything takes a backseat when a familiar face shows up and needs her help. Part 1 of the Randy Newman Trinity.
1. Chapter 1

Valerie Gray: Tell Me Lies

by Futuramakid

(Thanks to Anthiena for beta-ing)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

_I never believed that there was a rainbow, with a pot of gold at the end._

_I'm much too smart for fairy tales like that, but here I am again..._

The night was dark, and cool, and it hid one Valerie Gray, who streaked through the Elmerton skies, scanning for ghosts. It had been only a tad over a month since she'd learned that her worst rival, Danny Phantom, and her ex-boyfriend, Danny Fenton, were one and the same. It hurt. She'd doubled her patrols, just to keep her mind off it.

"ECTO SIGNATURE DETECTED", her helmet's HUD read.

_Good,_ she thought, _I could use something to beat the crap out of. Help take my mind off things._

She followed the signal. However, it wasn't quite what she was looking for- a poor girl stood, backed into an alley by a couple street punks. She lowered in closer, and could scarcely believe it. She _knew_ that girl. It was that ghost-girl Vlad had had her track down those months ago...

"Hey, pick on someone your own size, you slime," she called, descending to ground level, and hopping off her rocket sled between the girl and the punks. They were even uglier up close, one was a beefy bald man, with tattoos on his arm and a rather nasty grimace, the other was smaller, with long greasy hair, and a few too many facial piercings...

"That an invitation, lady?" the small one said, pulling a gun from his jacket.

"Hey now, easy," she said, putting her hands up, "let's not be rash..."

Out from the back of her gloves, out of the view of the muggers, her blasters charged.

"That's a good girl," the gunman replied, "maybe we won't hurt you so much as we were gonna hurt you. Now, here's how things're gonna go. You two girls stay still while my friend here takes the valuables..."  
Valerie waited until the big guy approached her to make her move. She swung onto the big guy's neck, blasting him in the back of the head with one hand, and aiming at the other with her free hand.

"Now, here's how things're gonna go," she said, "You're gonna drop the gun, and I'm gonna leave you and your friend to the cops.  
The man paused a moment in indecision.

"That wasn't a choice," she said, blasting him. She pushed the two unconscious bodies onto the sidewalk, and got back on her rocket sled.

"Come on, ghost-girl," she said to Dani, "Follow me, you don't wanna be here when those guys wake up."

She ascended a bit.

"Valerie?" Dani said, tentatively.

"Yeah?" Valerie replied.

"...I can't fly anymore."


	2. Chapter 2

Valerie Gray: Tell Me Lies

by Futuramakid

(Thanks to Anthiena for beta-ing)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

Later, at the Gray household...

"Okay, Danielle," Valerie said, entering her own room, "I brought the food, now can I get some sort of answer? What're you doing on my turf? Why are you de-powered?"  
"...It's a long story," Dani said, "but here goes. When you and Danny saved me... it was a band-aid solution."

"How so?" Valerie asked, curiously.

"...You tackled the symptoms but not the underlying problem. The ecto-dejecto didn't, and couldn't, fix my DNA."  
"...what's wrong with your DNA?" Valerie responded.

"...Valerie, I'm not sure if Danny told you, but I'm a clone," Dani replied, "a failed clone of him. When Vlad made me, he didn't have a complete sequence. I'm missing mid-morph DNA. I'm... incomplete."

"...So you were coming for Danny's help, right?" Valerie guessed.

"...Well... Not directly, if possible," she admitted, "I have... a plan, Valerie."

"...why not directly?" Valerie said rather surprised, "Danny's... well, he's a good person, he'd help you."  
"Valerie, it's not that simple," Dani protested.

"And why isn't it?"

"...Danny _is_ a good person," Dani said, "and so is his _family._ If any of them were to see me at all, they'd feel obligated, obligated to take me in. And I don't want to insinuate myself into a family. I... like my life as it is."

Valerie didn't entirely buy the truth of her last sentence, but otherwise Dani seemed quite sincere.

"...and what, exactly, is the plan, then, Danielle?"  
"...Well," she responded, "Vlad got what he needed of Danny's DNA structure from the files in your armor. I got the vibe that you two are rivals... If you could fight him, or maybe spy on him, maybe we could get the information we need to fix me up, without him knowing. If we can do this right, we can even fake an alibi that makes you scot-free from him for what goes down. You keep silent the whole time, I hide close enough to set off his ghost-sense, and it'll seem like you're overshadowed."

_Or like my suit's been hijacked again,_ Valerie thought.

"...I don't like this," Valerie admitted, "It... it's lying to him."  
"Only like he lied to you," Danielle pointed out, "it's for his own good... and my own life. If I was around here, I'd just be growing up in his shadow."  
_...Kinda like your own treatment by the public, huh, Val? You do all the little ghosts, the stuff on a human scale... But he does one big thing and suddenly he's Superman, Mr. High and Mighty, Mr. Truth, Justice, and the American Way, _Valerie reflected.

"...okay," Valerie said, "if you're sure."  
"I'll be fine," Dani assured her, "I can still go invisible without melting..."

Valerie's face went mildly pale, with a look of scared surprise.

"Melting!"

"...Yeah. If I don't get what I need done soon enough... I'll melt into ectoplasm. And using my powers too much hurts there."

Valerie paused- perhaps this was a bit too serious to risk on such a plan.  
"...Dani, are you _sure_ you can't ask Danny for help with this?" she asked concernedly.

"No, I can't," Dani insisted, "Believe me, if I could do this directly I would. I don't like lying either. It's what Vlad would do. But it's my only option for this."

"...I understand," Valerie said, "don't dwell on it too much. You're not like him."

"...Thanks, Valerie," Dani said, giving her a smile, "I'd better get-"  
"Oh no you don't," Valerie said, "You can stay with me while you're here. I'll let you leave when you need to skip town... but you will have the protection of my home, while you're here."  
Dani smiled back at her.

"...thanks, Valerie," she said, giving the girl a quick friendly hug, "I guess I'll shower and then get to bed, then. Walking for a day can tucker you out."

Valerie chuckled.

"Okay, Dani. You can sleep in my bed when you're done, I'll take the couch."

"Sounds good," Dani said, just a tad guilty to rob Valerie of her bed.

"The bathroom connects my room to my dad's," Valerie explained, "there's towels and such there."

Dani nodded and walked in that direction.

"Thanks again, Valerie," Dani said.

"No problem," Valerie replied.

_Good people..._ Valerie reflected, thinking over the conversation she'd just had; _more people with means... If I could support her I'd try to convince her to stay too... Running isn't a good thing for anyone, and neither is being alone, especially for someone her age..._


End file.
